"21 Summer" is a song by recorded American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

duo

Brothers Osborne Brothers Osborne is an American country music duo consisting of brothers T.J. Osborne (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and John Osborne (lead guitar, background vocals). Born in Deale, Maryland, the duo signed a recording contract with EMI Records ...

. The song was released in February 2016 as the duo's fourth single overall and the third from the album ''

Pawn Shop A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The items having been ''pawned'' to the broker are themselves called ''pledges'' or ...

''. Duo members John and T.J. Osborne co-wrote the song with

Craig Wiseman Craig Michael Wiseman is an American Country music songwriter and producer, and the owner/founder of the Big Loud enterprise. He has been writing since the late 1980s, and his songs have been recorded by Lorrie Morgan, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney ...

Content

The song is a nostalgic song recalling a former love that the narrator had in the summertime. John Osborne said, "It’s about looking back on a time in your life, regardless of how a previous relationship went. Whatever went wrong seemed to drift away and you only remember the glow of it, and the beauty of it and the importance of it." The brothers originally cut a demo of the song featuring a vocal hook. When recording the full version of the song with producer

Jay Joyce John Joseph "Jay" Joyce is an American record producer, songwriter and session musician. In the 1990s, Joyce, with Chris Feinstein and Brad Pemberton, recorded and toured as Iodine and began working as a record producer, working with artists suc ...

, the hook was played on John's guitar and echoed by the brothers' sister, Natalie, along with bassist Pete Sternberg and

Lucie Silvas Lucie Silvas (born Lucie Joanne Silverman, 4 September 1977) is a British singer-songwriter. Early life Born in Kingston upon Thames, England, her father is from New Zealand and is of Jewish descent; and her mother is Scottish and is Christia ...

, who is John Osborne's wife. Drummer

Adam Box Adam Box is an American drummer, best known for his work with the country duo Brothers Osborne. Box started playing drums at church in his hometown of Zero, Mississippi, in a church band that covered contemporary rock songs with Christian lyrics ...

plays a muted snare drum with a mallet. The brothers said that they wanted the song to have a vibe similar to a Jackson Browne song. After coming out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

in February 2021, T.J. Osborne revealed that "21 Summer" was written about his first heartbreak when his relationship ended with a man he was dating in secret and he was unable to talk about it with anyone. Speaking to

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

, he explained “I was mad that no one knew why I was hurting. There are so many times I’ve sung that song and wanted to cry. People love that song, but the emotion of it is deeper than they even realize.”

Commercial performance

The song peaked at No. 25 on the Hot Country Songs chart and No. 24 on Country Airplay. It has sold 138,000 copies in the United States as of November 2016.

Music video

The music video was directed by Justin Clough and premiered in August 2016, starring Stirling Everly, the grandson of

Don Everly The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 1939 ...

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 193 ...

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2016 songs 2016 singles Brothers Osborne songs EMI Records singles LGBT-related songs Songs written by Craig Wiseman Song recordings produced by Jay Joyce